A former power station site in downtown Port Coquitlam will soon turn into a parking lot.
This week, the city told the Tri-City News that the BC Hydro lot at Kingsway and Wilson avenues — west of the West Coast Express and public transit stations — will convert to a parking lot for city hall staff.
Joshua Frederick, PoCo’s director of engineering and public works, said the municipality has a five-year lease of the land, which was decommissioned by the electricity company earlier this year.
He said the city has added clean gravel to the Coquitlam substation site to create 75 parking stalls to be used exclusively by civic employees as part of the city's downtown revitalization plan.
There is no evidence of contamination on the property, he said.
Kyle Donaldson, spokesperson for BC Hydro, said the substation went up 65 years ago and was dismantled to comply with federal regulations and because it was at the end of its life.
"Customers previously supplied by this substation were transferred to other substations in the area," he said.
Donaldson said no decision has been made about the future of the property after the city lease ends.
